Sorry this is late, but I was busy having a good birthday!

The celebration actually started on Friday when Kevin (my brother) took me to see the first movie since the pandemic began! It was a fun action-packed movie with Mark Walburg that was based on the video game Uncharted. We ate way too much popcorn and he shared some of his fish and chips with me. Yummy!

Then, last night, we went to El Chico to meet my friend Elise and have dinner while enjoying the music ramblings of our friends Barry & Berry from school. It was not the best El Chico experience, but the company was nice. Elise just went through another breakup, so that was too much of the conversation and I hope she takes my advice to move on and put this behind her.

Now it’s time to address Linda G Hill’s prompt for yesterday: “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “trip”. Use it any way you like. Have fun!

Well, everyone has already heard all about our recent trip to Arkansas, but Friday, I penned a piece about it for Therapeutic Thymes Magazine, whom I write for 1-3 times a year! I’ll keep you posted if I get it published, and if I do, it will come out in the Summer Issue.

I included the above pictures for a trip down memory lane to show how much I’ve changed in 10+ years. For one, I sure do miss that hair I used to have and have had to learn to deal with wigs and hats. It’s ok though, I now have four wigs with which to accessorize and a plethora of ball caps. I sport more pounds and more wrinkles, but that comes with age, and the pounds are the only thing I have control over. (maybe) I seem to be gaining and losing the same five over and over again.

I’m looking forward to the next trip we take because we are going back to the place we used to live to meet up with some friends and share a place on the beach for a week. (maybe again) We haven’t got the final confirmation on it, but rest assured, we will go somewhere. I wanted to go to South Carolina and meet one of my favorite authors and see the beach she is famous for writing her Edisto series on, but we will see what pans out. In any case, you should read those books by C. Hope Clark, they’re such a fun trip!

We are going to serve lots of seafood for the family dinner today because that is what I asked for for my birthday dinner. Salmon, swordfish, mahi-mahi, and tuna will be the main event, salad, vegetables, and hushpuppies will complete the menu. Maybe if I get industrious, I’ll make some homemade Icecream. Keto, of course, or maybe some delicious fat bombs…

David bought me a special gift for my birthday, again, because I requested it. We took a trip to James Avery in the mall and he bought me the angel wings charm for my bracelet in honor and memory of my dad. They are putting it on now and I should be able to pick it up today or tomorrow. So excited! My boys will all be here for dinner and they all messaged me yesterday (my actual birthday) so that was nice.

We were quite busy for several hours yesterday making a new batch of summer sausage and breakfast sausage. The latter was just ok. We used a mixture of beef and pork instead of all pork and the result was a little tougher to chew, but we got the spices right, so it’s definitely edible. We made links this time instead of patties, yet it was just as time-consuming. I’m anxious to see how the summer sausage turns out since we added jalapenos, cheese, and peppercorn. Should be perfect!! I’m already in so much love with our last batch which had none of that. It’s all about the smoke! PS: peppercorn is very hard to grind in a mortar and pestle. Dave had to do it because I was merely moving them around and some were jumping out of the bowl. We would have used a grinder, but he just wanted a rough grind, not pulverized.

I’ll tell you what, all that meat and seafood he bought for today’s festivities cost more than my gift! Things have gotten so expensive!! But I appreciate all of it. My birthday has been a weekend-long affair! Maybe later we’ll trip the light fantastic and have a dance around, but more likely, we will possibly play some pool, eat, drink and be merry, and that’s alright with me!